The amendments for the first time “specifically prohibit certain relationships between staff, faculty and students, even when they are consensual,” according to a press release from the UT System Board of Regents.

The rules defines “inappropriate consensual relationship” as: a consensual sexual relationship, romantic relationship, or dating between a university faculty member or other employee and any employee or student over whom the individual has any direct or indirect supervisory, teaching, evaluation, or advisory authority, unless the relationship has been reported in advance and a plan to manage the conflict inherent in the relationship has been approved and documented.

The nine regents passed the policy unanimously and without extended discussion.

“I am confident that we have identified the best practices to address sexual misconduct on campus by creating a policy for all our campuses that does not merely discourage inappropriate relationships but clearly prohibits certain relationships where a real or perceived abuse of power exists,” Regents Chairman Paul Foster said.

The recommendations were proposed in December 2013 by the Task Force on Employee/Student Relationships, a 15-member panel made up of UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, Foster, several university presidents from the UT system and others.

The task force was assembled in November 2012, soon after UT women’s track and field coach Bev Kearney reported to the school she had a relationship with a student athlete a decade before. Months later, then-assistant football coach Major Applewhite admitted he had a one-time sexual encounter with a student trainer during the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.